A Look Back At The 9/11 Attack On The Pentagon

I recall vividly the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 

On September 11, 2001, I was the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia, where I oversaw security, safety and other programs.

I was sitting in my office that morning on a naval base in Philadelphia when one of our people stopped in and told me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

"Accident or terrorism?" I asked.

When we later learned that a second aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center, we knew we were under attack. Our commander, a U.S. Army colonel, sent all of our military and civilian employees home, as he didn’t know if, when or where another attack might occur.  

I remained at the base, along with the colonel and his deputy, and the three of us monitored the situation via the media and the classified communication equipment in my office. 

I remember the shock and dismay we felt when we learned that our headquarters, the Pentagon, was also attacked.  

My security job more than doubled from that day until the day I retired from the Defense Department in 2007.

I wrote a piece for Counterterrorism magazine on the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon in August of 2011.

You can read the piece below:

Note: You can click on the above to enlarge.

On This Day In History The World Trade Center And The Pentagon Were Attacked By Terrorists

As History.com notes, on this day in 2001 terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

At 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767–United Airlines Flight 175–appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center, and sliced into the south tower at about the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/attack-on-america 

You can also read my Crime Beat column on 9/11 via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/look-back-at-911-after-action-report.html

And you can read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on the Pentagon attack via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/09/a-look-back-at-911-attack-on-pentagon.html